1. Field of Invention
The subject matter of this written description is in the field of devices for removing debris from the leading edge of appendages on fluid traveling objects, and more specifically, the drive housing of a sailboat.
2. Background of the Invention
Boats are well-known vehicles for traveling through water. In almost every case, boats have a plurality of appendages with leading edges that cut through the water while the boat is moving. For instance, sail boats have leading edges of the hull, keel, propeller drive shaft housing (for sail boats that also feature motors), and rudder that must move through the water while the boat is moving. Leading edges of sail boat appendages (or any other fluid traveling vehicle) become problematic because they can accumulate debris (e.g., kelp strands) which, as a result, undesirably increases the drag of the sail boat as it moves through water.
The leading edge of a sail boat's hull is usually not a large concern for accumulating debris because the hull's leading edge is typically at the front of the boat and just below the water surface where debris can be removed via pushing the debris away or under the boat from the boat's deck. Similarly, accumulated debris at the leading edge of a sail boat's rudder does not raise a major concern because the rudder is located at the rear of the boat and relatively easy to access for debris removal from the boat's deck. Removing debris from the leading edge of the drive shaft housing or keel of a sail boat, however, is more problematic since those boat components are located underneath the boat and difficult to access for debris removal from the deck. In view of the foregoing, a need exists for apparatus and related methods for removing debris from the leading edges of boats' drive housing or keel.
One known way of removing the debris, like kelp strands, from the leading edge of a sail boat keel is by operating a vertical rod with a blade on its lower end, wherein the rod is positioned so the upper end of the rod is exposed at the sail boat's deck while the lower end is positioned below the boat's hull whereby raising or lowering the rod (like a plunger) from the deck moves the blade along the leading edge of the keel and cuts debris free from the leading edge. In one embodiment, movements of the rod result in a scissor action of the blade along the leading edge. See, e.g., U.S. Pub. Pat. App. Ser. No. 2007/0151496 (published Jul. 5, 2007) entitled “device and method for removing kelp/debris from a keel.” It is important to note that these rod driven debris removal systems are typically positioned within vertical tubes inside of the boat so that the tubes are in fluid communication with the water, but the tubes do not allow water to flood the boat because the upper end of the tube is positioned above the waterline.
Rod driven debris cutters are suitable for removing debris from a sailboat's keel. However, these rod driven devices cannot be applied to the propeller drive shaft housing of a sail boat because the motor (e.g., the Yanmar™ or other soft mounted motor) is positioned directly above the drive shaft whereby a rod with a blade cannot be provided to a location that enables a blade to interact with the leading edge of the drive shaft housing. For this and other reasons, drive shaft housings are often positioned directly behind the keel of the sail boat so that removing debris removed from the keel will not have a chance to interact with the drive shaft housing. Nevertheless, debris, like kelp strands, frequently catches the leading edge of the drive shaft housing and there is not a suitable mechanism for cutting or other debris removal mechanisms.